Ready Made Relationship

Painful Realisations

Buck was dozing off, the warmth from Grace and Judd sending him to sleep easily, his forehead still pressed against Judd's, and Grace pressed against his back.

"Bubba?" TK opened the bedroom door gently, his voice almost a whisper, but it still made Buck jolt upright. His arms swung into a defensive position, breaking his sling and causing an intense burning pain in his left shoulder.

"Whoa, hey," Grace sprung up behind him, her small arms carefully reached around him gripping his hands, leaning back against the bed until Buck was lying on top of her with his hands crossed over his chest, hers keeping them there. "Hush, Buck. It's TK, it's your brother."

"TK?" Buck mumbled, mildly disoriented, then his brain kicked into gear. "Brother." He rolled his head where it rested on Grace's chest until he faced TK, who stood in the doorway looking guilty. "TK!" Buck cheered quietly. "C'm'ere and give me a hug, baby bro!"

It didn't take long for TK to make his way around the bed to Buck, tugging his older brother out of Grace's arms and squeezing him tightly against his chest. Buck responded to his little brothers distress by standing from the bed and wrapping himself equally as tightly around TK. His left arm wound tightly around the youngers back, chin tilting back to make room for TK's head as his free hand guided the younger into the space underneath it.

"It's okay, Teeks. Today has been stressful for all of us. I'm sorry for freaking out again, brother." Buck whispered, his body swaying side to side, soothing TK who keened and finally allowed himself to cry against Buck's chest. "That's right, there we go." Buck crooned, glad that his younger brother was relaxing a little.

"I'm s-sorry, Bucky!" TK sobbed.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Don't apologise, bud," Buck hummed. He added a slight bounce to his swaying, which felt about as fun as a kick in the nuts for his bad leg. "You did nothing wrong." Buck grunted in pain when TK's reaction was to smash himself even harder against his front and dig his face into the crook of Buck's left shoulder. "Sh, it's okay." He pressed a kiss to the youngers head and turned to the couple who were poised to jump off the bed and take over. "Can one of you grab Owen and Carlos, me, thinks they are required?" He turned back to TK when he let out a particularly pathetic whimper. With a soft frown and a gentle hum, he began to drag his fingers through the younger's hair. "Tell me what's wrong, Teeks? Why are you so sad, huh?"

"I'm sorry." TK sniffled.

"Stop that, Teeks. There's nothing to be sorry for, you know I'm jumpy when I get hurt and you tried your best. That's all I can ask for, alright?" Buck grumbled. He leaned awkwardly so that he could look into TK's face.

"Alright," TK hiccupped. He seemed to be calming down from his tearful episode, which made Buck feel a lot better. "It's not just that, Bubs, I -" Buck waited patiently, watching TK's face worriedly as thousands of emotions flew across it. "Can I say something?" He asked suddenly.

Buck released TK, stepping away from him and daintily cupping the elbow of his left arm to soothe the ache in his shoulder. He was concerned, TK had never reacted in this way before, and he'd certainly never made the kid feel like he had to ask before saying anything, so this had to be serious. He nodded his head, motioning with his free hand for his brother to go on.

"I'm worried about you." It was whispered like a confession in a Catholic church, Buck didn't understand.

"I know." He pointed out.

"No, Buck, you don't." TK's hands buried themselves in his own hair as he began to pace, gripping handfuls but not pulling. "Ever since dad found you on that rooftop, I've been waiting for the day that you try again." Buck all but collapsed back onto the bed. He was devastated. All these years, and he'd never known, never guessed, how much his Teeks had been suffering because of him. If he could, he would cry, but somehow, he was too sad to cry. "Dad and I," TK sounded wrecked, letting out a wet groan as he forced words through the emotions that clogged his throat. "We love you so much, Buck!" Buck hunched forwards, the words feeling like a blow to the stomach, and wrapped his arms around himself. "And we had to watch you leave knowing what you were going back to. Then you were travelling, and that made you happier. I didn't have to worry about you when you were travelling. Even when you saw that damned movie and decided to be a firefighter, I wasn't worried because that made you happy, too." TK's hands left his hair, flinging around in the air like a couple of bats at a piñata. That made sense, Buck was kind of wishing someone would use him as a piñata right about now. "The 118 ruined everything for both of us, Buck. As soon as they started treating you badly, I wasn't sure anymore."